Posted by Mr Advice
a resident of Martens-Carmelita
on Jun 4, 2012 at 11:20 am

Bikes are the danger, it will take someone getting killed to bring about a solution, remember the initial bike race in downtown MV about 30 years ago? a lady pedestrian was killed stopping any future races.

Posted by Bruno
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jun 4, 2012 at 12:06 pm

I love riding my bike on the trail. If someone is blocking my path I just hit the brakes and slowly work my way around them. People shouting "ON YOUR LEFT!" annoy me as well, and I don't want to be one of them. Reminds me of Tea Leoni in Spanglish.

Props to Mr. Brown for skating and sticking up for the cause. I'm in my 30's and have been considering buying a new board for a while now. I think this clinches it!

Posted by Multi-User
a resident of Cuesta Park
on Jun 4, 2012 at 2:42 pm

Bike, bikes, bikes! They are always the blame. I cannot walk with head phones in both my ears, while blocking the (multi-use) trail, with my 3 friends as we splay across both lanes of the trail, without some CRAZED cyclist announcing themselves as directed by the signs they posted all over the trail. Its as if people want me to take personal responsibility for my own safety by altering _MY_ actions instead of those crazy cyclists who have to slow down, announce themselves and move out of the way for me.

Posted by Sharon Sharahlike
a resident of Waverly Park
on Jun 4, 2012 at 3:01 pm

I always slow down, ALWAYS, because pedestrians are so clueless at times about their surroundings, i have to pretend they are deaf and blind.Nobody can say that this cyclist is rude on the trail, in fact I'm the guy saying good morning to you as I SLOWLY ride by.
If you have small kids, you get extra special care when being passed, slowly enough for me to wave and say "Hi" to the little cutie.

*Its sooo easy to point all blame on others. Then you don't have to try and alter your behavior at all.
I will spare you the anecdotal incidents that I've experience which were 100% the blame of the pedestrian not paying attention to their surroundings, but I certainly will not take the bigoted approach of saying ALL pedestrians are a problem. Assigning negative stereotypes to an entire group of people based on the actions of some is the definition of bigotry.

Remember, for your own safety, Keep right, they painted the lines for a reason.

So an innocent story about skateboards re ignites the anger toward cyclists at Shoreline. I'm one of them - but I never say "on your left" because it causes so much anger. i just cough loudly - it works. Cyclists need to be the adults in this situation. The trail users include toddlers, bird watchers who straddle the entire path with their tripods, walkers who walk 4 abreast, etc. I recently began using my helmet camera at Shoreline - trust me, there occur incidents every ride - including the two moms walking with strollers that moved into my lane (From the oncoming direction)
The cyclist must also assume that the attitude of several of the above commentors carries over to their behavior on the trail.
Cyclists can control the situation by assuming that anything can happen, and take care.

Posted by Rigged
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jun 4, 2012 at 5:57 pm

Since putting this issue on the agenda will not put money in city coffers to pay city staff salary, and taking it on will not likely swing votes for council members, we can expect that this issue will not be acted on.

Staff, EPC, and Council are far too busy
* bending over for wealthy developers,
* lowering our development site parking requirements, and
* rezoning our job producing areas into tenant housing hutches,
* doubling the amount of high density housing as per the new city plan

to find time to work on issues for citizens without financial and political clout ... citizens like skate boarders.

Just says: "Skateboards shall be prohibited in Shoreline Park", with no rationale or explanation. Not even sure if I could walk through the park carrying a board. Now today, I just saw a person riding a skateboard with a long handle on the front like a scooter. So is that a scooter (legal in Mt. View) or a skateboard (illegal)? To me skating is skating, basically you have 1 or more wheels under your feet. Whether that is 2 wheels on a push scooter (legal), 4 wheels on a skateboard (illegal) or 8 wheels on in-line or roller skates (legal), it is all skating. And what about cross country roller skis, not explicitly mentioned in the ordinance, so OK or not?

When I cycle or ride my board on the multi-use trails, I make use of a bike bell to announce my presence while overtaking (I have a bell on the skateboard as well). I find the bell works better for me as it cuts through the ear buds on music listeners better and also for folks for whom English may not be a first language. Sometimes I find that "on the left" causes some folks to move left, others move right.

I also walk on the multi-use trails, so have been overtaken many times. I find that if I just hold my line to the right of the path and don't make any sudden changes in direction and realize that folks will be passing on the left and not jump every time someone passes, all is fine. If you realize that this is not your own private path and is instead shared by a multitude of other trail users, both faster and slower, then you'll be fine. Basically treat it like a road, keep to the right unless passing.